The group becomes high functioning. It is able to accomplish tasks while involving all group members. As the group matures, I move from the front of the room, to the side of the room, and then to the back of the room, as I delegate and defer to the strengths and skills of others. The "Seat of the Teacher" then belongs to the community, and like musical chairs; we all take turns holding that seat according to our strengths and skill sets and the task at hand. The individuals gain proficiency in the skills and complete the course (graduate) to then offer their cultivated gifts and authentic voices back to their communities.

Throughout each day of a training, and throughout the arc of the training, my leadership style changes constantly. Sometimes I am more directive in managing tasks; teaching a yoga class where the majority of my instructions are active commands (basically I tell people what to do--"step your right leg back three feet"). At other times, I am facilitating intrapersonal processes (contemplation, meditation, pranayama, mantra) and interpersonal communication (whole group discussion, small group discussion, small group exercises) and guiding a group through stages of development. Throughout I am using experiential education methods (learning by doing) to maximize participants engagement and learning; explain the exercise, model the exercise, facilitate small group hands-on practice, debrief the exercise and extrapolate the learning to a variety of contexts.

I no longer lead wilderness trips, except with my kids, because teaching yoga gives me the greatest diversity of teaching possibilities in both presentation/teaching modalities and range of content. I can think of no other teaching profession that would stimulate my own growth, or facilitate the growth of my students, as teaching yoga. In my Train the Trainer program (the last module of my 300 hour Teacher Training and in our Certification Program), I am able to teach a lot of these leadership/facilitation/experiential education methods more explicitly. I have found the path to which my gifts are best suited, and one in which I am in a continual process of my own learning and growth. Being a teacher means I